


you're the one that i want

by Dresupi



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1950s, Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Greasers, Idiots in Love, Minor Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-07
Updated: 2019-03-07
Packaged: 2019-11-13 10:14:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18029795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dresupi/pseuds/Dresupi
Summary: Fitz wants to be the kind of guy who won't embarrass Jemma at the Homecoming Dance.What he doesn't know is she always liked him and he doesn't have to change a thing.





	you're the one that i want

**Author's Note:**

> One minor anachronism: Robbie drives a Charger, and Dodge Chargers actually didn't appear on the scene until 1964, and this is technically set in 1958, so please overlook that one anachronism, I couldn't have Ghost Rider NOT driving a charger, you see. ;)
> 
> Fitz's eventual car is a 52 Buick Skylark. It never seemed prudent to say that, but just know that the car he shows up in is a Skylark. ;) 
> 
> for phoenix-fire-fangirl
> 
> Song is ['You're the One That I Want' by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John (1978)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oKPYe53h78)
> 
> **_1970s Song Prompts_ **   
>    
> 

Jemma slid into her seat just before the bell rang.  “Heya Fitz,” she whispered, leaning over on her lab stool to do so.

Her lab partner was already here, squinting through his dark-rimmed glasses at something in the microscope.  “Hullo, Jem…” he replied, sounding somehow thoroughly engrossed both in whatever was on that slide  _ and _ in her belated arrival. “Thought you were skipping.”

“Nah, I’d never skip Biology,” she replied. “It’s my favorite class, you know that.”

She reached up to her throat to unbutton her cardigan.  Bubblegum pink today. To match her skirt and blouse. Not that Fitz was looking up anytime soon, but Daisy had assured her that pink was her color.

It looked good. And Fitz was sure to notice her.

He leaned away from the microscope and turned to face her. “Just like you always say. I don’t know how you can carry on like that when you’re practically dragging me along for an ‘A’ with you.” He shrugged slightly, reaching up to pull at his collar. His button-up was all the way buttoned up today.  Not that it was unusual, but he looked uncomfortable. And that was unusual. As was his sudden lamentations regarding Bio.

“I thought you loved Biology!” she argued. “You said it was between sixth-period shop and fifth-period Bio for you.”

“That was before May graded our tests. She gave me  _ the look _ .”

“ _ The look _ ?” 

“ _ The look _ ,” he confirmed. “I must not have done as well as I previously thought.”

“I’m sure that’s not the case,” Jemma said, waving off his worry. Fitz was one of the brightest minds in Ms. May’s class. There was no way he did poorly on an exam. No possible way. “I’m sure your grade was just… too high to comprehend. She probably thinks you cheated again.”

“I didn’t, though…”

“It’s not normal for a motorhead to be such a brain,” Jemma assured him. “That’s all it is, I’m certain.”

“I’m not a motorhead,” he corrected her. “I’m a brain with a propensity for car repair. One look at my glasses and plaid shirt and there should be no doubt.”

“Maybe so, but you’re going to invent the first car that runs on water. I’m sure of it,” Jemma replied enthusiastically.

Ms. May still wasn’t in her place in front of the classroom, so Jemma tapped the end of her yellow pencil against the desk.

“Hey… Fitzsimmons!”  A paper wad hit the back of her head and she turned, glaring at the culprit, Grant Ward, who was seated in the very back of the room with his partner, Brock Rumlow. 

“For the last time,  _ stop that _ ,” she snarled, lobbing the paper wad back at him and hitting him square in the nose. It bounced off and onto the floor. 

He and everyone else it seemed, always stuck the two of them together. Instead of Fitz and Simmons, it was Fitzsimmons. The moniker never failed to make Fitz visibly uncomfortable, which was why she always tried to nip it in the bud.

It didn’t help, but at least it got Fitz smiling.

“Nah, Ward, they ain’t Fitzsimmons anymore,” Rumlow said, glancing up at Jemma and winking. She’s going with Barnes to the Homecoming dance.  Ain’t ya, Simmons?”

Her face reddened considerably, and for whatever reason, she glanced over to Fitz, looking to apologize. 

She opened her mouth and closed it a few times before speaking. “Well… I mean… he asked me and no one else had and the dance is Friday, so I figured… what’s the harm, right?”

Fitz grinned brightly, even if he had to wipe the look of surprise off his face to do so. “You don’t have to explain it to me. Nice job, Simmons. You got a date.”

He was smiling, but his voice sounded a little flat.

He probably thought the thing that she feared everyone would. That she was desperate to go with Barnes. Desperate to accept an offer so close to the dance itself. 

But it wasn’t true. She hadn’t set out to do so.  

Bucky wanted to ask Steve Rogers. But Steve wasn’t the Homecoming Dance type. And Bucky was absolutely  _ scared _ to ask his crush. But he was on the football team, so he had to ask  _ someone _ .

Jemma was as good a date as any. She knew about his crush on Steve. They were friends. Trig study buddies, so it all worked out.  They’d have things to talk about. No one would be bored. Bucky was a great dancer and could pretty much carry Jemma, who wasn’t, so they were a good match.

But she couldn’t tell Fitz any of that because it was all told to her in confidence.

What he must think of her!  It wasn’t to be borne.

She reached up to remove her cat-eyes, wiping the lenses with the hem of her cardigan before returning them to her face. She smiled nervously back at Fitz. “Bucky and I are just--”

“Doesn’t matter to me,” he replied, grinning widely. “I’m glad you’re going.”

 

* * *

 

It happened two days later. It was a Wednesday when Bucky limped into class on a pair of crutches following an accident at practice. “Sorry, doll…” he lamented. 

“Don’t worry about it,” she reassured him. 

It had all worked itself out. Sort of. She wasn’t happy Bucky was injured… but instead of spending the evening with her at a dance, he was spending it with Steve on the sofa. And she could just stay at home.

“You  _ can’t _ stay at home, though…” Daisy whined in the lunchroom. “We got matching dresses!” She was picking at her school meal: meatloaf and mashed potatoes. She kept spearing the peas into her mouth one at a time. “They match, Jem!”

They did indeed. Daisy’s was blue and Jemma’s was pink, but they were the same style. And gorgeous to boot. The only part of the evening Jemma was disappointed to be missing out on was the getting dressed up and looking beautiful part.

“I’d look awfully silly coming without a date,” Jemma said, laughing a little. “Especially with you and Robbie together.”

“Robbie can take you too!” Daisy insisted, reaching over and swatting Robbie’s leather jacket. “Can’t you, Robbie?”

“Take who? Jemma?” He jutted his thumb out towards her. “I can’t take Jemma… Fitz…”

Another swat from Daisy.

“ _ Fitz _ ,” he continued, pausing and nodding. “Fitz wouldn’t care one way or the other, so that is to say. Yes. I can take Jemma too.”

Daisy shot him a bewildered look. Jemma tried not to mirror it. The last thing Robbie needed was two confused women to explain himself to. Even if she didn’t have a clue what he was on about. Fitz wouldn’t care if she went with Robbie.

“You’re sure you don’t mind, Robbie?” she asked. “I won’t be a third wheel, I promise. Won’t make you dance with me either. I’ll just need a ride to the gym.”

“No, no, no, it’s fine,” he reassured her. “I would love to dance with you, Jemma.”

“Only if you want to,” she repeated.

“He’s dancing with you,” Daisy insisted. “I’m going to take pictures. It’ll be keen and we’ll have a blast.”

 

* * *

 

Jemma was so glad she decided to come to the dance. She and Daisy rode in the back of the Charger. And Robbie even put the top down. Which was fun, but hell on her hair.

They pulled up in the back parking lot and parked. Daisy was ready to hit the dance floor, but Robbie kept delaying their trek indoors.

“Come on, Robbie… you’d think you’d be chomping at the bit to go into that gym with two ladies,” Daisy groused, leaning up against the car as he tried to fish something out from under the car seat. The entirety of the vehicle was pristine, so Jemma couldn’t imagine what could have fallen down there.

Her thoughts were interrupted, however, by the roar of another engine. 

Sighing, she glanced over her shoulder, wondering which of Robbie’s greaser friends was peeling into the parking lot. 

She squinted back at the entrance, surprised by a pale yellow car that she’d never seen before.

“Who is that?” she asked, eyes widening when the car pulled up beside Robbie’s.

Her eyes nearly bugged out of her head when she saw exactly who was driving.

“Oh my gosh,  _ Fitz _ ?” Daisy exclaimed, putting words to Jemma’s thoughts. “I didn’t even know he  _ had _ a car!”

Robbie slipped his arm around Daisy, pulling her towards the gym.  “Oh no, you don’t, Reyes! Just when something interesting happens,  _ you _ want to book it into the gym!”

Jemma wasn’t sure exactly where her two friends ended up, because Fitz had stepped out of the car and all of her focus was on him.  He was wearing a suit. A black one with a bow-tie.

And he had his curls all slicked back to his scalp with some of that pomade Robbie kept on hand.

Oh, and his glasses were gone. Nowhere to be found.

Jemma opened her mouth to speak, but Fitz beat her to it.

“Hi Jem,” he said, waving slightly.  

“Leo…” she said softly, unable to stop the grin from spreading across her face.

“I… um… heard you needed a date for the dance…”

“You might have asked me,” she countered. 

“I know, I might have…” he acquiesced. “I just thought… I thought I’d surprise you. You seemed to have a type and I didn’t want to embarrass you.”

“Embarrass me?” she repeated, flabbergasted. “Fitz, how could you ever embarrass me?”

“Well, I’m not… I’m not the most… manly of men. I knew I couldn’t pull off the athletic thing… couldn’t letter in time to make a difference at any rate… but I am pretty keen at working on cars, so I thought…”

“Thought you’d be a greaser like Robbie?” Jemma filled in for him.

He shrugged. “Well, yeah? I have the skills, I might as well relax into the stereotype.”

“Fitz, I…” she shook her head. “Fitz, you’re a damn fool, you know that?”

He frowned, looking a little shocked. “What? Jemma--”

“I like you just as you are, you dolt.”

“You do? We never moved past friends, so I thought--”

“You never asked me. To do anything, Fitz. Never asked me to the movies. To go eat. Certainly not to this dance.”

“Well, I’ll ask you now, won’t I?” he said, smiling. “Jemma Simmons, will you go with me to the Homecoming Dance?”

“Yes I will, Leo. I would love nothing more.”

He extended his arm and she took it, turning with him towards the gym, only to see a rather large crowd had gathered. “Oh, my,” Jemma murmured under her breath.

“What is it?” Fitz asked. “I removed my glasses and I’m afraid I can’t see a thing.”

“It’s a rather large crowd of people…”

“Is it.” 

“Uh-huh,” she nodded, before leaning over to kiss his cheek. The crowd started clapping and Fitz blushed crimson. 

The students who had assembled outside began to meander inside once they realized the show was over.

“You didn’t have to do that,” he said.

“I wanted to do more,” she confessed. “But we have an audience…” She paused for a moment. “Didn’t you drive yourself here? And you’ve got no specs?”

“Yes,” he replied. “I had them on for that, just took them off before I arrived.”

“You nutter put them back on!”

“Only if you’re certain it won’t embarrass you to be seen with such a brain,” he teased.

“Fitz. What do you think I am?” she countered.

“A beautiful woman, who somehow is my date.”

Jemma leaned over and planted a kiss squarely on his lips. She reached into his coat pocket and produced his glasses. “Don the specs, Fitz. You obviously need them.”

“You’re right,” he said, scrambling to put them on. “You’re not beautiful, you’re stunning.”

“Come on, before I want to skip the dance and inspect the backseat of your car.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Leave me some sugar if you liked it!


End file.
